What a difference a week makes ... and not in a good way.

Nashville and Tennessee, like much of the rest of the country, are seeing spikes in COVID-19 cases, increases in transmission rates and increased hospitalizations. In some parts of the country, hospitals are becoming overwhelmed as this 'third wave' rolls through the U.S. Not only is there growing concern about where things currently stand but heightened anxiety over what the next few months could bring as colder weather drives people indoors.

On Monday, Oct. 19, Nashville reported 31,759 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 288 deaths. Today, those numbers are 33,699 and 295, respectively.

A week ago, the state reported 232,061 cases and 2,922 deaths. Today's number of cases had risen to 249,866 and deaths topped 3,160 ... more than 17,500 cases and 238 deaths in six days.

Metro Nashville

As of 9:30 today, the city reported 33,699 confirmed cases, an increase of 440 since yesterday and more than 700 over the weekend. There are currently 2,490 active cases in Nashville, 30,914 inactive or recovered cases and 191 active hospitalizations. With 295 deaths, the city has a case fatality rate of 0.88%. In Davidson County, 490,496 tests have been administered with a positive rate of 8.4%.

Out of 8 metrics on the trend lines, Nashville has 3 in the green, 2 in the yellow and 3 in the red. With a goal for transmission to be less than 1.0, the city's current transmission rate is 1.19 (in the red and up from the 1.16 reported at this time last week). The 14-day case trend is in the red with new cases rising. Public health and testing capacity remain in the green, as they have throughout.

As of 9:30 am this morning, hospital floor bed capacity remained in the yellow with 17% availability wth ICU beds also remaining in the yellow at 13% capacity. The goal for both hospital and ICU bed capacity is 20%.

The New Cases per 100K Residents has remained in the red for the past week. The goal of the seven-day rolling average is to be at 10 or below. Currently, Nashville sits at 33.2 (significantly up from 25.9 last Monday and 15.5 the week before). The goal for the 7-Day Positivity Rate is to see a figure at 10% or less. Currently, Nashville remains in the green with a rate of 6.3%, but that figure is up from the 5.2% as of 9:30 am last Monday morning. Overall, numbers continue to trend in the wrong direction.

More detailed data is available on the Metro Dashboard. Click here for details.

At this point, Nashville remains in Phase 3 of COVID Reopening. The city also continues its mask mandate, and several nearby counties have reinstated mask mandates including Sumner, Wilson and Williamson counties. These new mandates went into effect over the weekend and run through at least Oct. 30, when Governor Bill Lee's emergency declaration expires. However, the State of Emergency is anticipated to be extended given rising case counts across the state, and Williamson County Mayor Rogers Anderson has said his county will extend the mask mandate through the end of the year if given authority to do so by the governor.

Tennessee State

This afternoon, the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) confirmed 2,279 new cases of COVID-19 with the state total hitting 249,866. There are currently 1,098 hospitalizations (down 20 from yesterday) and 3,163 deaths (up 32 in 24 hours) for a death rate of 1.27. More than 3.5 million tests have been administered statewide (up 22,618 since yesterday). The number of inactive/recovered cases statewide is 219,230.